Vulnerability of Toys to Counterfeiting Highlighted in Joint OECD/EUIPO Study

13th July 2017

Toys were identified as a sector that is particularly vulnerable to counterfeiting in the first joint report of the EU intellectual property office (EUIPO) and the OECD. The study was released at the IP Enforcement Summit, which took place in Berlin in June 2017.

It found China to be the main producing economy of fake toys and the origin of almost 85% goods seized globally between 2011-2013. The report also noted that trade routes are complex and revealed that mail (42%) and sea (30%) are counterfeiters’ preferred transport.

Global trade in counterfeit toys was worth 7.12 billion in 2013, which represents more than 11% of all trade in those products

These findings keep on showing that the high IP-intensity of the toy sector makes it particularly vulnerable to the threat of counterfeiting. This highlights the continued importance of targeted enforcement measures that focus on rouge traders.